HM501Unit2DQ.docx

HM501
Unit 2 Discussion Question

Topic 1: Immigration and B Protection
When it comes to immigration laws, how should we balance the need to reform with b protection? Specifically, if you were POTUS, what changes to existing immigration laws would you recommend to Congress?

Topic 1: Student Response #1 (Respond helpfully to Paul’s post)

Student #1: Paul Olmos

Class,
            Boarder protection should be top priority for DHS and our federal government, to preserve sovereignty and to protect the American people.     If you want my personal opinion, I am more worried about the dangers of extremist getting through our southern and northern boarders, rather than the healthcare costs for the immigrants who come to the U.S. illegally.  It is the attacks carried out by illegal extremist immigrants over the recent past that makes immigration laws and boarder security a top priority. Those same incidents also cause knee jerk reactions, such as “extreme fixes” that would do more harm than good (Brown, 2016).
            The immigration process needs to be revamped to streamline the process of working visas, for those honest immigrants who actually contribute to our economy and more.  In some cases it has taken 5-20 years to get a fully processed green card or working visa, these same individuals risking it all to avoid their deadly situations in their lawless countries leaves them with little options. This process and reform will take more resources and manpower to effectively process.  If I were POTUS, I would do everything to pass President Biden’s bill U.S. Citizen Act of 2021.  This bill would provide a streamlined pathway to citizenship for those hardworking immigrants who would truly enrich our communities and society (whitehouse.gov, 2021). Most Americans would rather collect unemployment, rather than work those hard-labor jobs in the fields that puts food on shelves and tables for Americans across the U.S.
            We continuously throw money at manpower and physical barriers, but we also have learned that the drug trafficking criminals and possible foreign extremist, have found many ways to get past our b s, such as underground tunnels, or simple cargo through land and sea boarders and ports.
v/r,
Paul O.
References
Bullock J. A., Haddow G. D., & Coppola D. P. (2017). Homeland Security. [VitalSource Bookshelf]. Retrieved from 
https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/#/books/9780128045107/

Brown, T. C. (n.d.). Balancing Immigration, National Security, and Public Safety: Bipartisan Policy Center. Balancing Immigration, National Security, and Public Safety | Bipartisan Policy Center. 
https://bipartisanpolicy.org/report/balancing-priorities-immigration-national-security-public-safety/

House, W. (2021, January 25). Fact Sheet: President Biden Sends Immigration Bill to Congress as Part of His Commitment to Modernize our Immigration System. The White House. 
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/01/20/fact-sheet-president-biden-sends-immigration-bill-to-congress-as-part-of-his-commitment-to-modernize-our-immigration-system/

Topic 1: Student Response #2 (Respond helpfully to Ryan’s post)

Student #2: Ryan Davidson

B Security

            Immigration reform and b protection need to be addressed simultaneously. According to Budiman (2020), America has more immigrants that any other country in the world estimated at 40 million; moreover, only 77% are here legally (paras. 1-4). That equates to a lot of immigrants in our country, as well as illegal immigrants. The reasoning varies, but in recent history with the political debates, there are a lot of immigrants that are seeking asylum, and in fiscal year 2021, President Biden up the amount to 62,500 and 125,000 in 2022 (Monin et al., 2021, paras. 1-2). All asylum cases need to have their day in court or hearing prior to release into the population, as the individual may never actually show up to the court date, and with no home of record or location, how would the court attempt to contact them. It is difficult to assess the cost/benefit to illegal immigration, as I have been unable to find any consistency in the statistics.
Since I have a few friends and family members that immigrated legally to the United States, I feel that just letting immigrants in at the southern b or any b without having to go through the naturalization process is unfair to all the those who are immigrating to the country legally under the current naturalization process. There needs to be one standard for all immigration, no exceptions, even for education and work visas for when those visas expire. Lastly, if I were the President, I would ensure that the laws that Congress passes are enforced, as the people elect the law makers.  
References:
Budiman, A. (2020). Key findings about U.S. immigrants. Pew Research Center. Retrieved from https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/08/20/key-findings-about-u-s-immigrants/
Monin, K., Jeanne, B., Lai, T. (2021). Refugees and Asylees in the United States. Migration Policy Institute. Retrieved from https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/refugees-and-asylees-united-states-2021

Topic 2: Integration of Agencies
If you were advising the President of the United States (POTUS), what recommendations would you make to POTUS to better integrate the different intelligence and homeland security agencies that work in the cyber and critical infrastructure arenas?

Topic 2: Student Response #1 (Respond helpfully to Keith’s post)

Student #1: Keith Hamilton

Good afternoon class,
“The scope of out vulnerability results from the fact that so much of what we do is supported at some point by the entry, storage, and retrieval of data and information on an interconnected network of hard drives and data servers, whether locally or remotely hosted” (Bullock et al, 2018, p 189). There is so much information being stored digitally and so many different organizations that are responsible for the security of this information. The recommendation that I would make to the POTUS is to improve the relationships between the DHS and all the other federal agencies and private sectors to share the information more freely. Also provide more securities to these organizations to make them more protected and provide insurances. There should be a clear understanding of the relationships and responsibilities of all parties. By working together this could improve the cybersecurity and make it less vulnerable to attacks across all of the agencies.
Reference
Bullock, J.A., Haddow, G.D., Coppola, D.P. (2018). Homeland security: The essentials (2nd ed.). Butterworth-Heinemann.
-Hamsta

Topic 2: Student Response # (Respond helpfully to Ryan’s post)

Student #2: Ryan Davidson

Improving Critical Cyber Defenses

            There is no question that cyberterrorism and cybercrime will happen in the future, so it is important that governments, businesses, organizations, and individuals take the appropriate steps to ensure that they are protected from becoming a victim of a cyber-attack. Cyber is very difficult to address, according to Bullock (2018), the vulnerabilities are on the interconnected network and data servers which can be accessed locally or even remotely (p. 189). An attack can occur from thousands of miles away, so it is important to ensure that when one links infrastructure to a web-based sever, that appropriate defense measures are taken; moreover, this cost should be spread to all governments, business, organizations and individuals. The government should not be the sole bill payer for cyber defense; however, the federal government should be utilizing counter measures to cybercrime and cyberterrorism. If I were advising POTUS, I would say a significant number of resources would be needed, not only building the defense against cyber, but simultaneously working on the offense capabilities as well. An in to do so, the government may need to hire/recruit hackers to assist. As far as integrating multiple agencies to work together, I would encourage POTUS to tie funding and capabilities to their effort by setting requirements, objectives, and quarterly reports on the progress.
References:
Bullock, J. A., Haddow, G. D., & Coppola, D. P. (2018). Homeland security: The essentials. (2nd ed.). Elsevier.